Best manufacturing practices (also called ³lean manufacturing²) include a variety of methods, all of which are intended to streamline processes. Visual factory, set-up and changeover time reduction, error-proofing, total productive maintenance are some of the familiar practices employed by manufacturing organizations interested in improving quality and productivity.

Saint-Gobain Performance Plastics, an Akron extruder of high quality thermoplastic tubing used in the medical, food, and pharmaceutical industries, has just begun implementing several of these best manufacturing practices and is already starting to see significant results. Saint-Gobain employees, represented by USWA Local 71-B, have played an essential role in the planning and implementation of best practices at the plant. The plant first established a Steering Committee that comprises plant and union leadership. That Steering Committee, facilitated by WINOC Director of Advisory Services Rick Bohan, planned a number of ³best practices blitzes² that introduced visual factory approaches and the principles of setup time reduction to several of the extrusion lines.

The first such blitz was conducted on the Braider Line. That line often experienced changeovers that were several days long because many of the products run there are newer. The team of Braider Line employees first conducted a 5S blitz during which the work area was organized. Then the team ran several changeovers, observing each, and making improvements. The team has continued to meet regularly to make certain that ideas developed during the initial blitz are implemented effectively. Recently, setups and changeovers have been approaching 2.5 hours, down from an average of 12 hours or more. (One of the new methods being employed is more consistent tracking of setup and changeover times.)

A similar blitz was conducted on another line where setups and changeovers werenıt quite so arduous. Again, a 5S initiative led to immediate improvements in organization and workflow. The teamıs work on setup and changeover time reduction confirmed the idea that many of the methods being employed were applicable to all the extrusion lines. As such, a General Setup Reduction team was established. This teamıs mission is to identify and implement ideas that will be standardized across the plant.

The General Setup team recognized that close coordination with the Tool Room would be vital if setups and changeovers were to be improved. (Tooling for different extruded products is stored and distributed by the Tool Room.) This led to the initiation of the Tool Room team whose charter is to develop ways to organize and distribute the tooling on a just-in-time basis. The tooling will also be pre-assembled and pre-heated (extrusion tooling needs to be hot so that the plastic can flow easily through it). The General Setup and Tooling teams are also working together to develop new, quick-change tooling that may reduce tooling changeover times from the 1.5 to 2 hours they once were, down to a little over 10 minutes.

Reducing changeover times and organizing work areas isnıt useful unless the equipment is running dependably. Toward this end, a Maintenance team was established to develop preventive maintenance procedures. That team is analyzing the effectiveness of the policies it has developed with the goal of making them more effective and ³internal customer friendly².